Any dedicated handgun hunters, here?

[S.B.]

I love deer hunting but, in the last few years I have gone to only handgun hunting them. I hunt on the MWA near Marseilles at the mouth of the Fox river where it dumps into the Illinois river. Public land is a real pain in the a** but, it's the only game I have. I've taken several deer in Mo., with handgun, when I hunted down there but, have yet to take a Illinois whitetail deer.
I use a S&W 629-4 Cassic with a 6&1/2 barrel topped with an Ultra red dot scope.

[sniper2u00]

I would rather hunt deer with a handgun any more.Just for the challenge but usually take the shotgun to the stand just in case that big one steps out and looks around just out of handgun range . 480 Ruger SRH, T.C. Contender 41 mag & a couple of 357's here. All have put deer down except the 41. I didn't get it ready to go in time last yr.

[S.B.]

sniper2u00, N.W.Illinois huh, ever hunt the Sinnisippi tree farm forest near Oregon IL.on the Rock river, I think?

[Cement Man]

SB,
Used to be more dedicated.  Had a Dan Wesson 8" .44 mag with a 2X Leupold, got into one of my moods a number of years ago and sold it.  Replaced it with a Contender 10" .44 mag and a Burris red dot.  Haven't handgunned for deer for a few years now.  I have to get back to it again.  My old handgun hunting buddy has a 629 DX 8 3/8" with a 2X Leupold - a super accurate revolver.  He doesn't handgun hunt anymore, but he enjoys the accuracy so much that he shoots paper with it.  He won't part with it - I tried.

[jdinil]

I handgun deer hunt most years. As of late, I'm using a Ruger Super Blackhawk Hunter .44 mag. I also enjoy some small game hunting, mostly squirrels, with a Old Model Ruger Super Single Six or a Browning Nomad .22.

[Graybeard]

I've used handguns, bow and arrow, shotgun and rifle to hunt and take deer over the years. For a period of quite a lot of years I limited myself to handguns only during gun season but still used the bow during archery season before gun season opened.

I got into the TCs with long barrels and scopes and after awhile got to questioning if that was really handgun hunting and for sure it didn't seem any more convenient to me than a compact rifle. So what I did was sell off the TCs and now I'll carry an iron sighted revolver and a scoped rifle and decide which to use based on the distance of shots presented.

I enjoy using all the various tools really. I'm not sure if I've killed more with handgun than rifle or the other way around but the bow is in third place behind both of them and the shotgun is a distance last place for deer taken.

I really don't hunt that much these days as I've lost the private land I hunted for many years and am again back to hunting public land and the pulic land around here is really tough land on my tired worn out old body. My shortness of breath issues prevent me from getting very far from the truck and I'm not sure I'd be able to pull a deer back to the truck even if I got one anymore. The last couple I had to drag any significant distance a bunch of years ago almost killed me after I had killed them. Today I'd never be able to do those last long drags I made back then.

My hunting partner died several years back and since then the drive just isn't there to go out anymore like it once was.

[Glanceblamm]

S.B.
I am working on it as I have left the long gun at home the last four years in a row now...Dont really know if I will ever go back to them.
I think that we are just five years young for being able to use a handgun in the regular or late season now as you know.

[GRIMJIM]

I enjoy deer hunting wether it's shotgun handgun muzzleloader or archery. I have to drive quite a ways to get to some private property I can hunt on and then it's only if I go with a friend that's related to the owner. All of the rest of the time is on public land and with all the guys out there you're lucky to see deer let alone get a shot at one so I like to keep my options open. As far as kills my shotgun is winning so far with handgun and bow tied for second. The only thing I've shot with the muzzle loader so far was a coyote.

[sniper2u00]

S.B. I was in Oregon this morning helping a friend move .Never hunted Deer up that way just called some yotes is all I live in Morrison (Whiteside Co.) I hunt mostly private ground here but there is a state park  down the road from me that's open to hunting.

[S.B.]

I think Sinnissippi tree farm ceased to exist some time back??

[PHATINJUN]

It's now called Lowden Miller State Forest. about 2200 acres. Kurt

[S.B.]

Responders, please post some pictures of your gear you use to hunt deer in Illinois with?

[GRIMJIM]

I tried to split the topic here as we were wandering off topic. I screwed up and deleted all the posts from here on. Please repost any pics in Illinois hunting rigs.
Sorry.

[S.B.]

My whitetail deer rig is a S&W 629-4 Classic with an Ultra red dot scope on it. I've been shooting 250 gr. Keith SWC over 21 gr. of 2400 for about 1350 fps. but, this year 250 gr. Keith over 10 gr. of Unique for about 1200 fps.

[Cement Man]

Nice SB.  Sniper and GrimJim had some really nice rigs also.  How do you post those pics like that?  Sniper had them posted pretty full size like that also.  I believe there are some instructions on the site on how to post pics, but I can't find it. 

[GRIMJIM]

Go to
myhostedpics.com

register and upload your pics, then copy the url they give you and paste it in your post where you want the picture to be. I know how to do it but every time I try I get a file not found message so I'm workin on it.

Oh yeah, please post all pics in "Illinois hunting rigs'
Thanks,
Jim